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A woman is escorted from the scene of a shooting at a software company in Middleton. Four people were shot and wounded during the shooting in the suburb of Madison, according to a city administrator. Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP

Emergency personnel arrive on the scene of a shooting at a software company in Middleton. Four people were shot and wounded during the shooting in the suburb of Madison, according to a city administrator. Associated Press

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

A fire truck and people evacuated are gathered at a hotel near the scene after a shooting was reported at a software company in Middleton, Wis., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. Multiple were reported to have been shot. Associated Press

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Emergency responders work the scene of a shooting incident around the area of 1850 Deming Way in Middleton where a person shot several people at an office building. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

A woman is escorted from the scene of a shooting at a software company in Middleton. Four people were shot and wounded during the shooting in the suburb of Madison.(Photo11: Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

A heavily armed man opened fire inside a software company in Middleton on Wednesday, wounding four co-workers before he was shot by police.

The Madison man died later at a hospital.

Three of the wounded at WTS Paradigm were taken to the University of Wisconsin hospital trauma center. The hospital in Madison said one was in critical condition and two were in serious condition.A fourth victim who was grazed by a gunshot also sought treatment at a hospital.

Middleton Police Chief Charles Foulke said the shooter was armed with a semiautomatic handgun and extra ammunition magazines, and had two Middleton police officers and two Dane County sheriff's deputies not stormed in to take him down, there could have been much more bloodshed.

The shooter's name will be released by the Dane County medical examiner after notification of next of kin.

"If you're going to ask me about the motive, I don't know and I don't know anything about the background of the suspect," said Foulke.

"He was an employee so it wasn't unusual for him to be there. He had a reason to be there, but anything else I don't know."

The suspect did not have a criminal record nor did he have prior contact with Middleton police.

The call came in at 10:26 a.m. for an "active shooter" at 1850 Deming Way, where there are several businesses, including WTS Paradigm. The first officer arrived at the building three minutes later and by 10:31 a.m. six Middleton police officers were at the building along with sheriff's deputies. The regional FBI office is only a block away and FBI officers also quickly responded.

Inside the company's offices, the suspect shot at police officers, who returned fire. Foulke said he didn't know how many times the suspect was hit by gunfire.

At 10:34 a.m., according to audio scanner traffic provided by Broadcastify, an officer radioed to dispatch that he is "in contact" with the suspect. At 10:35 a.m., the officer radioed, "Shots fired! Shots fired!"

At 10:37 a.m., according to Broadcastify, the officer told dispatchers, "Subject is down," and called for a ballistic shield so officers could approach the suspect.

The suspect was taken to UW Hospital in an ambulance followed by two squad cars.

The building was then cleared and declared safe; all lockdowns had been lifted by 1 p.m. Police were setting up a family reunification area at a nearby hotel.

WMTV morning anchor Tim Elliot said on the air that a friend is a WTS Paradigm employee who saw the shooting.

"He was in a front conference room when a co-worker of his opens fire," Elliot said. "He tells us he saw three or maybe four people get shot."

Elliot said his friend ran from the building.

A woman known as NurseKelsey on Twitter sent several tweets about her husband, who works at the business. She wrote that her husband, who was not named, ran out of a conference room when the shooting started. He saw the shooter standing in the middle of the room, and the man who ran out of the room right behind him was shot in the shoulder and abdomen.

Judy Lahmers, a business analyst at WTS Paradigm, said she was working at her desk when she heard shots that sounded “like somebody was dropping boards on the ground, really loud.”

Lahmers said she ran out of the building and hid behind a car. She said the building’s glass entrance door shattered.

“I’m not looking back, I’m running as fast as I can. You just wonder, ‘Do you hide or do you run?’ ” said Lahmers.

Gabe Geib, a customer advocate at Esker Software in the same building, said he was working at his desk when he heard a couple of shots coming from next door that “sounded like claps.” He said he then saw people running “full sprint” away from the building.

“We knew at that point that something was going down. A ton of people were running across the street right in front of us,” Geib said. More than an hour after the shooting, he and his colleagues were huddled in place in their cafeteria, away from windows.

Marlene Mecum, who works at IMEG Corp. next to WTS Paradigm, said she heard several gunshots. She and her co-workers closed the doors and sheltered in place.

Madison schools emailed parents and said: "Police have contained the situation in Middleton, and again, there is no threat to our schools."

Middleton police scheduled free active shooting training in late July for any businesses or groups that wanted to know how to handle an active shooter. Foulke noted that law enforcement response to active shooters has changed dramatically since the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in 1999, when police remained outside the school until a SWAT team could go inside.

Now, the first officers on the scene are trained to immediately go inside, particularly in a "target rich environment" like a business with many employees at their desks.

"You hope it never happens, but you train for this. We know we can't wait to get a team together. They went in individually," said the police chief.

"They have the equipment, they have the training. Man, you hope you never have to use it. I didn't think we'd have to use it in Middleton."

WTS Paradigm was founded in 1999 and sells a variety of products, including mobile technology to sell home improvement projects and engineering software. At 12:17 p.m., someone posted this message on WTS Paradigm's Facebook Page: Thoughts and prayers for your company employees ....No one deserves this kind of violence ...

WTS Paradigm Marketing Manager Ryan Mayrand said in a statement Wednesday evening that the company was “shocked and heartbroken” and was working to set up counseling for workers.

Joe Taschler, Patrick Marley and Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel staff, Keegan Kyle of USA Today Network-Wisconsin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Three people were wounded in a shooting at a software company in Middleton. 911 audio tracks the events taking place.
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